I have obtained 4 organic exteacts of different solvents i.e. hexane extract, ethylacetate extact, methanol extract and choloroform extract from a ant species.
Proper solvent selection is perhaps the most important aspect of TLC, and determining the best solvent may require a degree of trial and error. As with plate selection, keep in mind the chemical properties of the analytes. A common starting solvent is 1:1 hexane:ethyl acetate. https://chem.libretexts.org/Ancillary_Materials/Demos_Techniques_and_Experiments/General_Lab_Techniques/Thin_Layer_Chromatography
Check https://orgchemboulder.com/Technique/Procedures/TLC/TLC.shtml
Hello Subhrakanta Jena, we usually follow TRIAL & ERROR approach to select a final solvent system for each extract. You can try using a number of solvents with a range of polarity to check the resolution and change the polarity of the solvent system accordingly to get better resolution. Finally, select the best solvent system that conferred the highest resolution.
For example, we have got 2 compounds (widely spaced) in a solvent system, 4 compounds in a bit more polar system and 2 compounds (narrowly spaced) in a bit lower polarity system than the 1st one. This indicates that we may get better resolution by enhancing polarity of the system. In general, we try to get as many compounds as we can with larger difference in Rf values of the compounds.
It would have been better if I could explain with drawing some figures. Yet, I think that you have got some idea about selecting the solvent system for performing TLC. All the best.
@Md. Yusuf Al-Amin, well said!
@Subhrakanta Jena, the solvents you can try includes n-hexane, petroleum ether, benzene, cyclohexane, toluene, chloroform, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, acetone, ethanol, methanol etc.
To select mobile phase solvent system for TLC,for less polar compds. use less polar solvent like n-hexane, pet ether, ethyl acetate, toluene as solvents while for polar compds. use chloroform. acetone, toluene + acetone mixture(1:#), DMF etc. The solvent system which gives maximum separation of the spots on TLC is better.
which the best mobile phase solvent for the analysis of schif base system for TLC. Thanks.
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